Manifest Destiny (1836-1853)

Stephen Austin

American empresario who established legal settlement in Mexican Texas beginning in 1820s

Santa Anna

Mexican general and president who led forces against Texas independence and later lost Mexican-American War

Alamo

Former mission in San Antonio where Texas defenders died in 1836 battle, becoming rallying cry for independence

"Remember the Alamo"

Battle cry of Texan forces after Mexican victory at Alamo killed all defenders

famous deaths

Notable Alamo defenders included Davy Crockett, James Bowie, and William Travis

Battle of San Jancinto River

April 1836 decisive Texas victory over Santa Anna securing independence after three-week campaign

Republic of Texas (Lone Star Republic) 1836

Independent nation (1836-1845) led by Sam Houston before annexation by United States

The Annexation of Texas

1845 admission of Texas as 28th state, opposed by Mexico and northern abolitionists

Election of 1840

William Henry Harrison defeated Van Buren but died after one month; Tyler became president

Webster Ashburton Treaty 1842

Agreement settling disputed Maine-Canada boundary between US and Britain

Election of 1844

Dark horse James K. Polk defeated Henry Clay on platform of territorial expansion

James K. Polk

President (1845-1849) who pursued aggressive territorial expansion acquiring Texas, Oregon, and Southwest

"54 40 or Fight!"

Polk's campaign slogan demanding all of Oregon Territory to latitude 54°40', though he later compromised

49th Parallel

Boundary line established in 1846 compromise dividing Oregon Territory between US and Britain

Mexican American War 1846-1848

Conflict resulting from Texas annexation and border disputes, ending in major US territorial gains

"Shed American Blood on American Soil!"

Polk's justification for war after Mexican forces attacked US troops in disputed Texas-Mexico border region

General Zachary Taylor (Old Rough and Ready)

American commander who won early Mexican War victories and later became president

John C. Freemont and the Bear Flag Republic

American explorer whose presence encouraged California settlers to declare independence from Mexico in 1846

Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo 1848

Treaty ending Mexican War; Mexico ceded California and Southwest to US for $15 million

Mexican Cession

Territory acquired from Mexico including California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, and parts of New Mexico, Colorado, and Wyoming

Wilmot Proviso

Failed 1846 proposal to ban slavery in territories acquired from Mexico, inflaming sectional tensions

Election of 1848

Whig Zachary Taylor defeated Democrat Lewis Cass and Free Soil candidate Martin Van Buren

"Popular Sovereignty"

Doctrine that settlers in territories should decide slavery question themselves through voting

Free Soil Party

Antislavery political party opposing expansion of slavery into western territories, formed 1848

John Sutter

California landowner on whose property gold was discovered in 1848, sparking Gold Rush

49ers

Gold seekers who rushed to California in 1849 hoping to strike it rich

Compromise of 1850

Series of laws admitting California as free state while strengthening Fugitive Slave Law and applying popular sovereignty to other territories

Gadsden Purchase 1853

$10 million purchase from Mexico of southern Arizona and New Mexico for transcontinental railroad route

Williams H. Seward, Alaska (Seward's Folly)

Secretary of State who purchased Alaska from Russia in 1867 for $7.2 million, initially mocked